'A' student abandoned by her mom and B.C. government

Foisting teenagers like Noelle Wheeler off onto relatives is not a solution, says B.C. youth advocate

Noelle Wheeler has been trying to get placed into government care since her only guardian, her mother, abandoned her and left the country.

Photograph by: .
, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER -- Noelle Wheeler’s future was laid out before her. The 17-year-old would graduate from high school, go to the University of Victoria on a partial scholarship, work and study hard and, eventually, become a medical malpractice lawyer.

But she says those carefully laid plans are now in serious jeopardy.

In December, Wheeler says she came home from school one day to find the apartment she lived in with her family empty. Completely deserted. She says her mother had left the country, taking Wheeler’s two younger sisters with her, to go live with someone she fell in love with online. Wheeler hasn’t heard from her since.

She has never lived with her dad; she says she doesn’t even know who he is.

When a parent gives up responsibility, whose responsibility is it to look after a child? According to provincial law, “if a child has no guardian or if the guardian appointed is dead, refuses or is incompetent at law to act, … a director under the Child, Family and Community Service Act is the personal guardian of the child, (and) … the Public Guardian and Trustee is the property guardian of the child.”

Wheeler has been trying to get placed into government care since her only guardian, her mother, abandoned her and left the country, but she says she is not getting any response.

“The ministry has been contacted several times by myself, and by staff members at my high school who advocated for me, and yet six months later, they have yet to provide any support,” Wheeler said.

The ministry would not comment on this specific case, but said “generally speaking, young people age 16 to 18 who cannot return to their family for safety reasons may be eligible for out-of-care options through the Ministry of Children and Family Development, such as placement with extended family or Youth Agreements. Typically, in-care options would not be considered unless there is a child protection concern and other alternatives have been exhausted.”

Youth agreements are for people aged 16 to 18 who have no parent or other person willing to take care of them and who cannot return to their family home. They provide about $1,000 a month for rent, food and other expenses.

About five per cent of calls to the Office of the Representative for Children and Youth are inquiries about youth agreements, and most often, the inquiries are made by young people who want to be on a youth agreement, but who are hitting stumbling blocks with the ministry. Fifty-six such calls were received in the first six months of this year.

Wheeler reached out to the Ministry of Children and Family Development for help when her mother left the country in December. But because Wheeler is able to temporarily live with her grandparents, she hasn’t been given a youth agreement.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s representative for children and youth, said Wheeler’s situation is indicative of a larger trend.

“She’s basically been abandoned and the degree of action by the ministry just isn’t adequate,” Turpel-Lafond said. “These young people are not getting youth agreements and they’re being basically foisted off onto relatives — relatives who I am sure love them and want to support them, but they are in very senior years and they are in no condition to do this type of thing.”

Wheeler said she had no choice but to live with her grandparents, with whom she has a tenuous relationship.

“My grandparents have recently asked me to find a new place to stay, and I have no other family, friends or any other type of support out there that would be able to help me.”

Since she moved in with her grandparents, Wheeler says, contact with the social worker has been sporadic at best.

Despite the upheaval, Wheeler graduated from Kwantlen Park secondary school in Surrey in June with grades high enough to earn her a $2,000 scholarship for academic excellence, which will cover her first-term tuition at the University of Victoria.

Turpel-Lafond said failing to support children like Wheeler or take them into care is a “lost opportunity.”

“I’m concerned that we’re washing our hands of these young people that need support. The only wedge is my office waging a campaign with them — I’m fine to do it, but that’s not a youth policy,” Turpel-Lafond said. “We’ve got to be smart with this — it is a smart investment and our really lowball youth programs in this province, where we really haven’t funded it or done the active work, will catch up with us.”

Although ministry information on the extended family program shows that extended family can receive $625 per month per child older than 12, Wheeler said her grandparents have never received any financial support from the government, even when at other times they had looked after all three children.

“As soon as money is brought up, it is hard to get a phone call back,” Wheeler said.

Turpel-Lafond said the province had 4,000 kids in a program where relatives got financial support to look after children without parents. That program was ended and replaced with the extended family program, but Turpel-Lafond said only one-tenth the number of kids are now in the new program. She suspects that means the rest of them are living with extended family, but not receiving any financial support.

“We’ve basically left them on their own with families that are probably terrified and struggling to get by on a retirement income and cannot pay for university,” Turpel-Lafond said, adding that kids need more than financial support as they move on to university — they need help navigating the system, buying their books and getting settled.

“There are a lot of U-turns in the road that they face and they can make a bad turn fast. They need people in their lives who say, you’re going to get that education and you’re not going to end up on the street and these are the things you need to do to get there and these are the things you don’t do,” Turpel-Lafond said. “(Wheeler’s) prepared to do what she has to do to get a future that is very different from her past. We should reward this and be willing to invest in these people.”

Earlier this year, The Vancouver Sun reported on a similar case in which a girl aged 17 wanted to be taken into government care, but her mother refused to give up custody. The girl was a straight-A student who said her home life was chaotic and unsafe. She was living in a shelter, terrified she might end up on the street. But her teachers and Vancouver Sun readers stepped up to get her housed, form a trust fund, buy a prom dress and help her find a summer job.

Also earlier this year, The Vancouver Sun wrote a series of stories called From Care to Where, about the plight of foster children who turn 19 and abruptly lose all government support. The series was triggered by the decision of two universities to waive tuition for former foster children, a move that has since spread to at least five post-secondary institutions in B.C. But if young people are not taken into care, they won’t be eligible for these or other support programs, making it even harder to reach their goals.

“Although I don’t necessarily want to have the government as my guardian, it would be extremely helpful because then they are responsible for taking care of me,” Wheeler said. “It would make a huge difference if they paid my rent and for food because then a student loan could cover my tuition.”

Wheeler would also work part-time if she makes it to UVic. She said she has applied for a student loan, which could provide up to $10,880 for a typical September to April program. But even that would not cover all of her expenses.

All Wheeler wants is to follow her carefully laid plans and start her university education in September. But so far, she says, she is getting no help from the government.

“Ever since I came to my grandparents, (the ministry) has not called or checked to see if I am all right, they have not offered support and they rarely return phone calls. So I’m reaching out for help. I am desperate,” she said. “All I want is to be able to go to school next year and move on with my life but it is now mid-July and without any support, I fear that I will not only not be able to go to university but also, that I will end up on the streets again.”

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